Art in action, Erasmus + youth camp in Beisfjord Norway, July 2017

In this amazing Erasmus + youth camp in Beisjord Norway, which I organized with several other people, I managed to make a site specific installation with 24 youth from Poland, Serbia, France and Norway. Here are some photos from the camp. 

Bjørnfjell

Nazi Germans killed and tortured 284 Yugoslavian prisoners on this mountain in Northern Norway near the border with Sweden and cities of Kiruna and Narvik.

184 bodies are still missing and they are  laying around buried somewhere in this area.

My art project was to honored these Yugoslavian people that gave their lives for our freedom today. 

From the opening of a pop up museum in Beisfjord, Norway

 

Working with youth, Erasmus + Beisfjord Remembrance

New embroidery piece

London Calling

I was working in the local hospital yesterday night. A person that I usually work with as a personal assistant was very sick so I spent the whole night by the hospital bed. 

Apparently the Saturday night seemed to be more bloody then I was expecting. London was attacked again. Another miserable act of killing bye radical terrorist. 

I am staring to develop phobia from the public gatherings. These people are really burning to let some Europeans blood. We are not safe, now more then ever it seems to me. Ok, maybe the WW2 is an exception, buy hey we are not far from WW3, some rumors are saying that the WW3 started in Syria and it´s spreading around. I am thinking what kind of skills one need to have to survive if the  WW3 expends rapidly.

My short list:

To be able to survive in the nature,

to know how to handle weapons, 

some knowledge about communication system if the Internet and GSM network become unreachable,

etc....

Memories

Being older brings changes for me. Both emotional and physical. I guess that´s natural. What I find very problematic is that I miss feelings that I had when I was younger. Experiencing life between the age of 10 and 25 years has carved very nice emotions in me, probably in every human being.

I very often go back in my memories, so I can feel this emotions again. This emotions are just happiness I would say but they smell like teen spirit as Kurt said.

When I was in highs school, history was one of the most boring subjects I had. Today I like history. My artistic research is about the topic of Remembrance.  I read history books, memoirs, I became boring, as I said changes..... 

Mayday

I like when the Sun is up all day long  in middle of May, here in Northern Norway. Best time to go skiing or splitboarding.  Got a tip from a friend to bring with me a dish brush to clean the snow from the bindings for easy transition. Such a big step forward for a untalented splitboard rider. 

Where is home, and what is home?

Very often I find my self in this vacuum, in between places, cities, countries, identities. Born from a Syrian father and Serbian/Bosnian mother. Always felt different, growing up in a small city called Kikinda, in 1983. Kikinda was in Yugoslavia, a country that doesn´t exist today. My Syrian name put a stamp on my identity. I was always trying to fit in society in Kikinda, which was very homogeneous. Since 2009 I live in Norway. No need to hide, plenty of people like me. With university degrees, diverse background, foreigners, refugees...

Wait something is wrong, I don´t want steady job, loan, working hours, material safety. Maybe I want to be reach, so I can leave in my own little world.

I am artist since 2012. Great profession for someone like me. I can question my surrounding, the system, me in the system, almost everything. So still questioning my identity.

Very often I feel like chameleon. I change color, language, statues, behavior, origin. Sometimes I say I am Serbian, or Syrian, or Yugoslavian. Sometimes I feel like Yugoslavian, no country, only memories. I love my memories, they are so deep and wide. I go very often there, over the rainbow. I guess that´s why I am interested in history and remembrance. My art often deals with WW2, and other local wars in Yugoslavia. I find a lot of inspiration in old photography, archives, memories.

My next exhibition, project is about Beisfjord massacre. Nazis killed around 800 people in Beisfjord and it´s surroundings from Yugoslavia.

One of the survivals from Beisfjord Concentration camp  was a friend of my family, and there it is, a connection, motivation, spark for my artistic creation.


to be continued...

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Embracing Diversity

I am looking forward to participate at “Embracing Diversity – Training course on diversity management in Oslo. 

“Embracing diversity” is an international training course about exploring different concepts and elements of inclusion and diversity, looking for common grounds and beyond differences. It will gather 35 professionals from different sectors: youth work, education, social work ... working on topic of diversity.
Seventeen European countries will participate in this seminar :)) 

https://www.salto-youth.net/tools/european-training-calendar/training/embracing-diversity-training-course-on-diversity-management.6124/

High North